Originally posted by keepingitbrutal
I've been playing guitar for a little over two years now so I know most of the basics of soloing. I like to play a variety of music, mostly 80's metal & speedmetal but I also like to have a kind of classical sound in my songs. I've always had problems when I wanted to get a different sound from a progression that I was jamming. I haven't really spent much time on learning a bunch of chords because it's really boring to me and I mostly play lead. But then one day it finally came to me when I was practicing a song I wrote that mainly uses double stops. I was applying the double stops diatonicly and I realized that you can make a chord out of any scale using two or more of the notes in the scale.

[Edited by keepingitbrutal on 06-11-2002 at 01:19 AM]

I can't belive that you find playing chords "really boring". Playing chords is a fundamental part of playing and mastering the guitar. You say you have been playing for two years and you've just now discovered that by playing two or more notes in a scale you can make a chord? I don't know how anyone can write a song without first building the chord structure. Ask any song writer. I'm not criticizing your taste in music but you need to listen to other types of music besides speed metal and fast guitar licks and check out some players that know how to use chords to their fullest. There was a band back in the sixties that had a guitar player by the name of George Harrison. I think his band was called the "Beatles" or Something. Listen to what this man could do with chords. There are many more examples of outstanding chord players out there. One of the "Masters" at playing chords, leads and thumb pick the bass line at the same time was Chet Atkins. I'll admit that some of the songs he covered were corny, but listen to what that man could do with that combination on the guitar. Perhaps some of the other players on this site can recomend a few of their favorite chord players.
There's a free download of a gadget called The Powertab Editor 1.7. It has a great chord dictionary in it complete with audio.
You can get it at http://powertab.guitarnetwork.org/downloads.htm
Do yourself a favor and learn how to play and use chords. You wont be sorry.